Working out in the patio yesterday, I dyed 10 of these…Sweet little onesies for sweet little babies.
Between Monday and Tuesday, I finished 8 new silk scarves and have 3 more waiting to finish. I need some time to decide how to finish them. I want to do more wax designs. There is only one in this group using my new “BIG sponge” stamp. I love the BIG sponge.
I’m so bad…I haven’t blogged in forever. I guess I can just take you through what I have been doing the last couple of weeks… in pictures.
I went to Terra Haute to an exhibit that a friend of mine was in. We went to a place she had once gone to school and I saw interesting things to photograph such as this structure.
Interesting glass close to where we parked…
Then made lots of fabric beads and made earrings from them…this pair sold…
I’ve been making liner bags to go in Kay’s basket purses…a little collaborative effort…
I made ciabatta bread for the very first time…it turned out great…I love it…
We went to my family reunion…outdoors at a state park on the hottest day of the year…
That’s my brother…he was not a happy camper…
We left on Friday to go home for the reunion and were having AC problems at the time. Well, it’s Tuesday and we are still waiting for the repair guy. Lucky we are staying cool though.
Back to the “dye studio” and scarves and onesies this week…
Took this while the scarf was drying…
Pole-wrapped and dyed, stamped and a rubbing applied. The rubbing plate design was made on a piece of cardboard with hot glue. Great way to make rubbings.
Last week I took advantage of the wonderfully mild weather to get out in the patio and work on silk scarves. I screened on most of them. I used deconstructed screen designs, glue designs, and paper resist designs. Some of my breakdown screens didn’t print very long. The new silk screens that Julia and I made worked well, but I see mine are starting to stretch a little. Perhaps that is because I didn’t review Kerr Grabowski’s instructions before we made them! This throw together scarf design turned out to be my favorite. Since I ran out of good breakdown prints, I used other screens and partial designs on it. Another idea has emerged for me to use for future screening. I love the contrast of a large bold design over smaller prints.
The other side of this scarf is a bit different, just because with printing by hand you can get lots of variety. This scarf was printed using all three of the types of printing I mentioned earlier. I’m having a great love affair with chartreuse and turquoise this summer, as well as all the blends in between the two that happen when one does not wash the screens between printing. This scarf is printed on silk charmeuse.
I am printing scarves today, getting ready for an art fair this weekend. I am using three different silk screens. Two are created with soy wax designs and one has been created using Elmer’s glue. I am amazed at the longevity of the glue screen. I have been using it for some time now. Here it is all messy with dye.
I made a soy wax screen with stripes and it is lasting a long time too. Here are some of the scarves I printed this morning. I think I am going to have to invest in more screens!
I did use another screen that I stamped circles on with soy wax, but I actually got the wax too heavy on it, so there is not a lot of dye put down when you do a pull. I only used it on one of these scarves for a variation in the print. When I get them washed out…I will post the finished look.
It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged…I have no excuse…just busy doing other things. Last week it seemed like I spent the whole week working on silk scarves. I needed to deliver some for consignment on my trip to Evansville, so I was dyeing a few, making a pile for consignment and a few for my stash as well as photographing, then listing my stash on etsy. I am trying to be regular with etsy since it is the holiday season and sales will be happening. I sold several scarves last year out of my etsy shop and I would like to be ready for shoppers!
Here is a silk chiffon I dyed. It is a 44″ square. I usually do more than one layer on these, but I think it’s beautiful the way it is and I’m not sure I want to add more to it.
I also joined the Visioning project on SAQA this past week. The project is supposed to help me get organized, aim for goals and hopefully reach them. At the same time, there are artists more advanced than I that will check my page and give me helpful hints. Yesterday I spent some time writing on my page about my goals just for this week. While I was soaking in the tub yesterday morning, I had several ideas float through my brain, so writing helped me to get it in print, which helps me focus better. I also didn’t want to forget those ideas, so I write. I have a solo show in late 2011, and I am hoping that the Visioning project will help me get prepared for that, if for no other reason than I will make commitments and stick to them.
Silk Charmeuse, deconstructed screen printed and thermofax screened
So sorry I haven’t blogged for awhile. It’s hard to write two blogs…especially if you want to write something thoughtful yet entertaining.
So, today, after my walk and my visit to my hair girl, photographing silk scarves was on my agenda as well as photographing a new large piece for entry into an area exhibit. Well, the wind is just a little bit too strong to get much photography done. I tried. When I photograph, I like to open up my garage door and set up everything just inside the garage. It gives me plenty of light, but not too much. I even had a backdrop set up with my gridwall and a black sheet. The wind was just too frustrating, but here’s a pic of one of the scarves.
Silk habatoi is the only kind of silk I have dyed that gets this wonderful kind of movement in the dyes. I guess it’s because of its thinness. I really like it and these are the scarves that sell the quickest for me. This scarf is $40 and is 14″ x 72″ before shrinkage.
I was looking at an application for a regional exhibit coming up. I need to get it and digital images in really soon. I see in the rules that purchase award winnners will be asked to relinquish copyrights to their work. I am wondering if this is a good thing to do or not? And if you enter you are asked to sign a statement on the application to this effect, so it’s not something I can decide later. How do others feel about this?
I sold a quilt this weekend at the farmer’s market. It wasn’t an art quilt, per se. I had been dragging it around with me for years, using it to cover a table or fill in a space in my quilt show booth. I’m a bit sorry to see it go since my favorite longarmer who doesn’t quilt any more quilted it. But I’m really glad to pocket the money!
I also went to visit the gallery I will be showing in…in 2011 (lots can happen between now and then). I wanted to see how much space I will be expected to fill. I have some ideas percolating now for small pieces.
What’s everyone else doing for the summer?
Here is a scarf I did last week. The technique is breakdown printing and the scarf is silk charmeuse, a nice heavy weight to screen on.
…and a nice closeup of the textures I love…lots of people commented on it, but no one coughed up the cash!
This scarf is for sale for $60.
Rayna sparked this idea for me. She did her scarf on the diagonal and I didn’t. But I just had to try these yesterday. I am still thinking about doing more layers on them. These are silk crepe.
The Christmas artisan’s fair is over again. I didn’t have a lot of sales, not enough actually, but it’s funny how one thing you do leads to another….I was asked to do a solo exhibit in a gallery…in 2011. I think I can get ready in time!
So this week, I have a goal. I am planning and writing up a proposal for a commercial commission job. I had started it a couple of weeks ago, but then other things got in the way and took my attention and time. Now it’s time to get dreadfully serious about it. I’m not one to sit still and do a lot of paperwork and all the thinking that goes along with it. Perhaps I need this exercise. If nothing else, I am sure I will learn a lot. So that is my plan for this week…after I go teach (that got cancelled)…and go to the dentist…and bake a cake for Jesus’ birthday party with my 3-5 year olds class at church…and make my nieces’ Christmas presents…and the list can go on and on. It’s the holidays, right? If you are already busy, the holidays just doubles or triples it for you.
My scarves are selling pretty well this season. I’ve sold 4 out of my etsy shop in the past couple of weeks. And I got a check from the shop I consigned a dozen to…she is selling them too. I keep them pretty simple with what I do to them, because I am not sure that my current market will support higher priced work. But when I do the exhibit, I think I will do some that are very special with more surface design on them.
Here is a rose pink silk crepe that I decided to do more to. I was wanting to experiment with it a bit. It was going to be my play scarf. I screened some words on it with a Thermofax screen. Since the scarf was still a bit damp, the words blurred just a bit, not bad. Not being satisfied with that, I came back with the discharge paste and a sea sponge and stamped it. Perfect. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to sell this scarf…but sadly (or happily, depending on your view) a girl wanted to buy it, so I “let” her. Sigh. Maybe I can duplicate it. I really did like this one.
I dyed a bunch of silk scarves two days ago and re-dyed a couple yesterday. Nothing fancy or really that artistic…just the basic dyeing. Today I will discharge some of those and then work on some “artistic” ones. I haven’t dyed on 8mm silk habatoi for awhile because I was trying out all the other beautiful silks, but I ordered a few in this last order. I am amazed at the drama you can get with them, a real “scrunch-dyed” look with lots of texture and movement. It’s a look you don’t get on the other types of silk. I love the way they came out with multiple colors on them.
…and draped…
These are for sale at $16 each plus shipping. Contact me if you are interested.
UPDATE 12/6/08 –These two scarves are SOLD. (Woohoo!)
Art Journal---A Creative Journey 